Hair styling tool capable of creating an appearance of thicker hair

ABSTRACT

A hair styling tool capable of creating an appearance of thicker hair generally includes a padding means and a braiding means located below the padding means. The padding means includes a frame and a base. The frame is formed of an upper curved bar, a lower curved bar, and an outwardly curved bar, all of which are joined together at their ends. The padding means can be covered with a middle section of user&#39;s hair to create an appearance of thicker hair for the user. The braiding means can be fitted with alternating sections of the user&#39;s hair to create a braid hairstyle. The user&#39;s remaining hair can be fixed in a positioning space of the braiding means without additional hair fasteners. These features render the present invention useful and provide the user with visual beauty.

(a) TECHNICAL FIELD OF THE INVENTION

The present invention relates to a hair styling tool and, more particularly, to a hair tool that includes a padding means and a braiding means, wherein the padding means allows a user to have an appearance of thicker hair, while the braiding means allows the user's hair to be easily braided without additional hair fasteners, and these features cause the tool to be useful and provide the user with visual beauty.

(b) DESCRIPTION OF THE PRIOR ART

Existing hair tools, such as hair bands, rubber bands or other accessories provided with elastic bands, are usually employed to fix hair. However, they cannot create a special hairstyle, such as a braid hairstyle, and they are not suitable for a female user whose head is flat and whose hair is less. For a female user with less hair, it is difficult for her hair to be shaped into a three strands braid. The process of braiding hair is somewhat complicated. Although a person may perform braiding for other persons, it is difficult for individuals to braid hair on themselves. Also, the existing hair braiding tools require other hair fasteners, such as hair bands or hair clips, to secure a finished braid.

In view of the foregoing, applicant has strived to solve the drawbacks and inconveniences of the existing hair tools; after careful investigation and continuous trial, applicant has invented an improved hair styling tool that can create an appearance of thicker hair for a user.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

One object of the present invention is to provide a hair styling tool for creating an appearance of thicker hair for a user, which generally comprises a padding means and a braiding means. The padding means includes a frame and a base, wherein the frame is supported by one or more posts formed on the base. The frame is formed of an upper curved bar, a lower curved bar, and an outwardly curved bar, all of which are joined together at their ends. The padding means can be covered with a section of user's hair to create an appearance of thicker hair. The braiding means located below the padding means can be fitted with alternating sections of the user's hair to create a braid hairstyle for providing the user with visual beauty.

Other objects, advantages, and novel features of the present invention will become more apparent from the following detailed description when taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

FIG. 1 shows a 3-dimensional view of a hair styling tool according one embodiment of the present invention, which generally includes a padding means and a braiding means.

FIG. 2 shows a front view of the hair styling tool.

FIG. 3 shows a partial rear view of the hair styling tool.

FIG. 4 shows a schematic view of the hair styling tool, which is employed to fix a user's hair.

FIG. 5 shows a fragmentary enlarged view of the hair styling tool, which is employed to fix a user's hair.

FIG. 6 show a schematic view of the hair styling tool, which illustrates an operating step of the tool, wherein an outer middle section of a user's hair covering the padding means can be placed into a top receiving space of the braiding means of the tool.

FIG. 7 shows a schematic view of the hair styling tool, which illustrates a further operating step of the tool, wherein two side sections of the user's hair are placed into two receiving spaces of the braiding means of the tool.

FIG. 8 shows a schematic view of the hair styling tool, which illustrates a still further operating step of the tool, wherein four side sections of the user's hair are placed into four receiving spaces of the braiding means of the tool.

FIG. 9 shows a schematic view of the hair styling tool, wherein a braid hairstyle has been completed by using the tool.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS

Referring to FIGS. 1 through 3, a hair styling tool according to one embodiment of the present invention is shown, which generally comprises a padding means 1 and a braiding means 2. The padding means 1 includes a frame 11 and a base 12, wherein one or more posts 13 can be provided between the frame 11 and the base 12 to support the frame 11. The frame 11 is formed of an upper curved bar 111, a lower curved bar 112, and an outwardly curved bar 113, all of which are joined together at their ends. The outwardly curved bar 113 is provided at its outer surface with a plurality of teeth 114 which are arranged at intervals. The base 12 is provided at its undersurface with an attachment means 121, such as a velcro fastener or a hair clip.

The braiding means 2, which is formed below the padding means 1, includes multiple loops which are alternately arranged along a longitudinal axis (L), such that a plurality of receiving spaces 31, 33, 34 are defined alternately generally at two sides of the longitudinal axis (L) and open to their entrances 32, 36, 35 corresponding thereto. The padding means 1 can be placed under a middle section of a user's hair to create an appearance of thicker hair for the user while allowing right and left sections of the user's hair to alternately pass through the receiving spaces 33, 34 of the loops in a descending order. The rest of the user's hair is allowed to pass through a positioning space 29 defined at the braiding means 2 to complete a braid hairstyle.

The multiple loops include a first loop, a plurality of middle loops, and a final loop, wherein the middle loops refer to the loops located between the first loop and the final loop. Basically, each of the multiple loops is composed of a first straight section, a slant section, a second straight section, and a semicircular section. The multiple loops starts from the first loop and terminates at the final loop. As shown, the first straight section 24 of the first loop is formed integrally with the lower curved bar 112 of the padding means 1 by a curved piece 23 and extends in a transverse direction (V) to join one end of the slant section 25, which extends in a direction (B). The second straight section 26 of the first loop extends from another end of the slant section 25 in parallel with the first straight section 24 to join one end of the semicircular section 27 of the first loop. Another end of the semicircular section 27 is joined to the second loop, which is located at one side of the longitudinal axis (L) away from the first loop and includes a first straight section (not labeled), a slant section 28, a second straight section (not labeled), and a semicircular section (not labeled), which are sequentially arranged in the same order as those sections of the first loop. Repeating the way that the first and second loops are configured, the middle and final loops can be sequentially joined. Preferably, the slant section of each loop can be configured with a width greater than the other sections. Also, the slant section is configured to extend at an angle (theta), between 0 and 90 degrees, to the extending direction of the first straight section to facilitate the braiding means 2 to exert a restoring force while the braiding means 2 is being pulled. Furthermore, the final loop is provided with a plurality of protrusions 291 extending into the positioning space 29 to facilitate the user's remaining hair to be fixed.

In use, as shown in FIGS. 4 through 9, the padding means 1 of the hair styling tool can be placed between an outer middle section 6 and an inner middle section hair 61 of a user's hair. Consequently, the outer middle section hair 6 can be moved outwardly by the outwardly curved bar 113 of the padding means 1 (i.e., the user's hair is padded high), and thus an appearance of thicker hair can be created. The attachment means 121 provided at the undersurface of the base 12 facilitates the padding means 1 to be fixed between the outer middle sections 6 and the inner middle section 61 of the user's hair, as shown in FIG. 5, wherein the outer middle section hair 6 is indicated by solid line, and the inner middle section hair 61 is indicated by hidden line. In performing a braiding operation, the outer middle section hair 61, which covers the padding means 1, can be placed into the receiving space 31 of the first loop via the entrance 32 to be located between the braiding means 2 and the user's head (see FIG. 6). The right sections 7 of the user's hair can be placed into the receiving spaces 33 of the middle loops via the corresponding entrances 36 located at the left side of the longitudinal axis (L). On the other hand, the left sections 8 of the user's hair can be placed into the receiving spaces 34 of the middle loops via the corresponding entrances 35 located at the right side of the longitudinal axis (L). In braiding hair, the right and left sections of the user's hair can be alternately and sequentially placed into the corresponding receiving spaces of the middle loops to create a braid hairstyle (see FIGS. 7 through 9). Finally, the remaining hair 9 of the user can be inserted through the positioning space 29 of the final loop to be fixed by the protrusions 291, as shown in FIG. 9.

As a summary, the hair styling tool of the present invention includes a padding means 1 and a braiding means 2. The padding means 1 includes a frame 11 and a base 12, wherein the frame 11 is supported by one or more posts 13 formed on the base 12. The frame 11 is formed of an upper curved bar 111, a lower curved bar 112, and an outwardly curved bar 113, all of which are joined together at their ends. The padding means 1 can be covered with a middle section of a user's hair to create an appearance of thicker hair. The braiding means 2 located below the padding means 1 can be fitted with alternating sections of the user's hair to create a braid hairstyle, thus providing the user with visual beauty.

While the invention has been described with reference to the preferred embodiment above, it should be recognized that the preferred embodiment is given for the purpose of illustration only and is not intended to limit the scope of the present invention and that various modifications and changes, which will be apparent to those skilled in the relevant art, may be made without departing from the spirit and scope of the invention. 

What is claimed is:
 1. A hair styling tool, comprising a padding means and a braiding means, the padding means including a base and a frame supported by the base, the frame including an outwardly curved bar, the braiding means being formed integrally with the padding means and including multiple loops which are alternately arranged along a longitudinal axis , such that a plurality of receiving spaces are defined alternately at two sides of the longitudinal axis and open to their corresponding entrances , the padding means capable of being placed under a middle section of a user's hair to create an appearance of thicker hair while allowing right sections and left sections of the user's hair to alternately pass through the receiving spaces of the loops in a descending order, wherein the user's remaining hair is allowed to pass through a positioning space of the braiding means to be fixed.
 2. The hair styling tool of claim 1, wherein the outwardly curved bar is provided with a plurality of teeth at its outer surface, and the base is provided with an attachment means at its undersurface.
 3. The hair styling tool of claim 1, wherein the multiple loops includes a first loop, a plurality of middle loops, and a final loop, and each of the multiple loops is essentially composed of a first straight section, a slant section, a second straight section, and a semicircular section, wherein the first straight section of the first loop is formed integrally with the padding means by a curved piece and extends in a transverse direction to join one end of the slant section of the first loop, the second straight section of the first loop extends from another end of the slant section in parallel with the first straight section to join one end of the semicircular section of the first loop, another end of the semicircular section is joined to the second loop which is located at one side of the longitudinal axis away from the first loop and includes sections being sequentially arranged in the same order as the sections of the first loop, and the middle and final loops are sequentially arranged in the same manner as the first and second loops; wherein the slant section of each loop extends at an angle to the extending direction of the first straight section joined therewith to facilitate the braiding means to exert a restoring force while the braiding means is being pulled, the angle being greater than 0 but less than 90 degrees; the final loop is provided with a plurality of protrusions extending into the positioning space thereof to facilitate the user's remaining hair to be fixed. 